I love connecting with other #TeamBlackBerry folks daily on the BlackBerry® Support Community as the Community Manager. I’m very fortunate to have a position that keeps my fingers on the pulse of #TeamBlackBerry with the device that keeps us all connected to what we love: a BlackBerry® smartphone.

Last Thursday we all got together for the #My1stBlackBerry chat on Twitter® and it was awesome! It was a great opportunity to chat with all of you on a personal level and hear about the experiences we all share through our mutual love of our BlackBerry devices. If you’ve never participated in a Twitter chat before, you can learn more in our Get Ready – Upcoming #My1stBlackBerry Twitter chat post.

It was amazing to hear from long time users about their original BlackBerry® 950 devices – one of our first mobile email devices – as well as from newcomers to #TeamBlackBerry with their first BlackBerry® PlayBook™ tablet and BlackBerry® Bold™ 9900 smartphone.You may have seen that my first smartphone was the groundbreaking BlackBerry® 7290 smartphone with a color screen that I first started using in 2006. That’s when I started connecting to everything I love.

Thanks to everyone who jumped in to share their experiences and help others make the best of their BlackBerry devices! I have been working the @BlackBerryHelp team back when there were less than 10,000 followers and what a fantastic ride it has been. You can read a bit more about the team in this interview with Michele and Brian from the @BlackBerryHelp Team.

There were some great comments and fun chat had by everyone! Here are just a few:

#TeamBlackBerry, please join me in congratulating our newest ranked officer, hailing from Alabama in the United Stated of America: Joey Sanders aka JSanders! Joey joined the community when it launched April 1st, 2008 and since then he has produced over 50,000 posts in the BlackBerry Community Support Forums (BSCF). When I look at the numbers, they are staggering because only a few of these posts are to start new topics – that means he has over 49,000 replies to others! This truly proves his desire to assist other members of the community.

I have had the pleasure of meeting Joey in person and his fun banter will make anyone feel like they’re talking to a family member they may not have seen for a while, or just had a barbeque with last week!

I asked for a few thoughts on him, from others, and here’s what other users in the community are saying:

“Joey was one of the first to reach out to me when I joined this Community…his manner, style, and grace at dealing with me (who, at that time, knew very little!!) was beyond compare. He truly has taught me so much, and has been a true prince among princes (and princesses!).”

“Joey’s passion for “doing good” is so very obvious. To volunteer so much time to what is so often a thankless activity proves his inner drive to “pay it forward”. To reach 50K posts…well, that’s just further depiction of that passion.”

“When it comes to discussing BlackBerry devices, there are few as knowledgeable or proficient as JSanders. But that’s not all he’s good at! He’s also king at turning trolls to stone, and man, does he ever know his grits!”

“Just like your favorite college team you have been at the top for a few years. Roll tide roll”

With Joey being our first ‘Resident Expert’, I’d like to explain a little more of what this is and what it means to our community.

A Resident Expert is not a rank that one can ‘rank up to’. This is an appointed rank that is presented to indicate a user’s desire and dedication to their fellow BlackBerry users to make sure we can all enjoy and get the most out of our BlackBerry smartphone. It shows true knowledge of the product, and commitment to the community and to us all as BlackBerry product lovers!

Want to learn more about our ranking system, or even join our ranks and become a ranked officer? Join the BCSF and get connected to hundreds of thousands of BlackBerry users just like you!

A few weeks ago, we held our third Community Insider Event on the BlackBerry® Support Community and I’m pleased to announce that it was a huge success! The two-day Q&A session invited members of the support community to ask questions about BlackBerry® PlayBook™ OS 2.0 with Michael Clewley (the smiley fella featured above :)), Senior Product Manager for the BlackBerry® PlayBook™ tablet. In just two days, we saw more than 500 posts on the event board. Michael did an excellent job managing the conversation and responding to questions and comments from a diverse group of BlackBerry customers, including Super Users and developers, regular forum contributors and new community members alike.

Overall, the community appreciated the opportunity to connect directly with Michael, as demonstrated by their comments during the event:

“Thanks, Michael!! I’m getting up-to-speed with the PlayBook…thanks for reminding me of this useful feature…does the job admirably!”
-GeorgeB

RIM’s priority is to provide the best possible experience for customers, and the Insider Event Series is part of our larger effort to do just that – to help product managers like Michael better understand what our customers are looking for from BlackBerry products and services. If you have yet to participate in an Insider Event series, I’d encourage you to join the next event but you can check out past event boards:

For those of you who participated in the BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0 event, we sent you a survey asking for feedback on your experience. If you haven’t had a chance to fill it out, I’d encourage you to do so as we truly value your feedback, especially as we plan upcoming events. We haven’t set a date for the next one, but we’ll provide updates here, so stay tuned!

The event will take place this coming Wednesday, March 7th and Thursday, March 8th from 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM ET. During this time, Michael Clewley, Senior Product Manager for BlackBerry PlayBook tablet, will be on deck to answer support questions related to BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0. If you have a question for Michael that you’d like to post on the board, make sure to register for the community event before Wednesday, March 7th. You can find the PlayBook OS 2.0 Community Insider Event registration page here. If you aren’t familiar with our Insider Event series, check out the board for the BlackBerry® 7 event hosted by Annu Dawar to see how these sessions work.

]]>http://helpblog.blackberry.com/2012/03/playbook-community-insider-event/feed/1boreev1Announcing the BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0 Community Insider Event and @BlackBerryHelp Giveaway!http://helpblog.blackberry.com/2012/02/playbook-insider-event/
http://helpblog.blackberry.com/2012/02/playbook-insider-event/#respondWed, 22 Feb 2012 21:16:53 +0000http://helpblog.blackberry.com/?p=4502]]>Hey #TeamBlackBerry, it’s Bo, your Community Manager from the BlackBerry® Support Community Forums – and I’m happy to announce that it’s time for the third BlackBerry Community Insider Event!

Michael, who was a BlackBerry PlayBook tablet OS 2.0 ambassador at CES 2012 (see videos here and here), is looking forward to discussing features such as the updated BlackBerry® Bridge™ app and native email functionality. I had the opportunity to chat with Michael last week and he’s very excited about hosting the event.

To provide some background info, Michael has been with RIM for over 10 years, during which he’s held different positions starting in BlackBerry Technical Support. After being a Team Lead for Technical Product Development, he’s been on the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet development team for the past year and a half. Michael loves to get customer feedback for the development of products for both consumers and developers, and has said that he’s looking forward to “interacting with customers and telling them how to get the most from BlackBerry PlayBook tablet OS 2.0.” In terms of his favorite features of the new OS, he’s a fan of the social integration capabilities, which allow him to stay on top of his friends’ activities.

The third Community Insider Event will take place from 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM EST on Wednesday March 7th and Thursday, March 8th, 2012. Make sure to stop by the Support Community during that time for a chance to connect with the team behind the scenes! If you aren’t already a member of the community, make sure to register here before March 7th, 2012.

In preparation for the Community Insider Event, @BlackBerryHelp on Twitter® is hosting the #InsidePlayBook OS 2.0 Accessories Giveaway from February 27th to March 2nd, 2012. During this time, we’ll be asking users to share BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0 topics they’d like to discuss during the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet 2.0 Community Insider Event for the chance to win* one of several BlackBerry PlayBook tablet accessories. Prizes include (but are not limited to) the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet Convertible Case and BlackBerry PlayBook tablet Rapid Charging Pod. If you want to participate, look out for the #InsidePlayBook hashtag on @BlackBerryHelp next week! Check out the Official Contest Rules for more information.

We look forward to your participation in this event and the contest. Take a look at the Support Community for more details:

* No purchase necessary. Five (5) prizes available to be won; one (1) each day of contest period. Prizes range in value from $50-$95CDN. Must be legal resident of Canada (excluding Quebec) or United States (including the District of Columbia) who have reached the age of majority in their province/territory/state of residence. Odds of winning depend on likelihood of being the 5th eligible tweet each day during the contest period. Skill testing question applies for residents of Canada. See Official Contest Rules for complete details.

As much as I love announcing new and exciting things that are coming up for BlackBerry®, I also enjoy looking back on some of the great things that have taken place to make note of their success. As many of our regular readers know, we held a second Community Insider Event on October 26th and 27th.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with these events, BlackBerry Community Insider Events are Q&A sessions hosted by the BlackBerry Support Community. These sessions are led by Research In Motion® (RIM®) Product Managers and are intended to foster a direct connection between BlackBerry advocates and our internal product team.

In July, we hosted our first Community Insider Event where Senior Product Manager Alex Kinsella answered BlackBerry App World™ storefront questions from the community. This first session was such a success that we decided to start hosting Insider Events on a regular basis.

The second ever Community Insider Event was led by our Senior Product Manager of Handheld Software, Annu Dawar, and focused on the BlackBerry® 7 OS and devices. Throughout the two-day session, there were over 70 posts on the event board with questions from expert users and new community members alike, all of whom had great questions around the functionality of our newest operating system and series of BlackBerry devices. Overall, the event sparked great conversation between the community and the product team. The discussion included questions about the functionality of new BlackBerry 7 OS features and recommendations for future upgrades. During the two-day session, Annu remained committed to providing thorough responses to the questions and comments left on the board. Here are some things our community had to say about the event:

“That’s excellent news! Thanks Annu!”
-Krypto

“Thanks for replying! That does make a lot of sense. I know my post was somewhat vague so I appreciate the input ”
-AgentBlackB3rry

We’re always looking for feedback from the loyal customers that make up #TeamBlackBerry, and the Community Insider Events have helped the product team understand what our community is looking for in the development of new and existing products.

For those of you who attended the event, thanks for coming out! If you haven’t done so already, please provide feedback in the comments section. For those of you who couldn’t make it to the BlackBerry 7 OS event, we encourage you to attend next time around. Stay tuned for updates on upcoming events right here!

Update October 20th, 2011: Hey Team BlackBerry, we’ve officially rescheduled the event for next Wednesday and Thursday (Oct. 26-27). Annu is eager to answer any and all of your questions about BlackBerry OS 7 and devices, so start preparing now! See you on the Support Community next week!

Update October 13th, 2011: Please note that this event has been rescheduled – we’ll update the blog as soon as a new date is available!

Happy October, #TeamBlackBerry. I’m happy to announce that the second Community Insider Event is right around the corner! In July, we featured BlackBerry® Senior Product Manager Alex Kinsella to answer questions related to the BlackBerry App World™ storefront. This time around, we’re bringing in our Senior Product Manager from Handheld Software Management, Annu Dawar, to discuss anything and everything you need to know about BlackBerry® 7 OS and devices.

If you’re a regular subscriber to the Inside BlackBerry Help Blog, you’ve surely read about some of the awesome features of BlackBerry 7 OS, and I know Annu has additional tricks up his sleeve that he can’t wait to share. With the holiday season on the horizon, our Support Community wants to make sure you have a chance to connect with the team behind the scenes, so make sure to stop by at some point on Wednesday, October 12th or Thursday, October 13th.

We’ll be starting at 9 AM ET on Wednesday, October 12th. On the day of the event, navigate here.

Important Notes:

In order to ask questions, you must be signed into the BlackBerry Support Community Forums. If you plan on participating in the session, but have not already registered with the Community, we suggest doing so before the start of the event. Click here to get started!

To sign in:

1. Click the Sign In link at the top of any page
2. Enter your Login name and PasswordTip: If you’re the only one who uses this computer, click Remember me on this computer to sign in automatically next time you visit
3. Click Sign In. (Forgot your login name or password? Click “Need help with your login name or password?” and we’ll email them to you.)

See the announcement on the BlackBerry Support Community page for event guidelines.

When I received my first BlackBerry® smartphone, I thought ‘wireless everything!’ – then I learned that there was a bit of configuring needed to get this all set up! However, it didn’t take a long time to get my device up and running without being tethered.

From the home screen on the BlackBerry smartphone, navigate to ‘Manage Connections’ and ensure there is a check beside ‘Bluetooth®’. The next step is making sure your device is ‘Discoverable’. Navigate to ‘Options/Networks and Connections/Bluetooth Connections’. Make sure ‘Discoverable’ is set to ‘Yes’.

Pairing with the computer

There are a few things to consider when you pair the BlackBerry smartphone with your computer. There are a couple of system requirements that need to be met. Although there are a number of third-party Bluetooth driver stacks that will work with your BlackBerry smartphone, the default Windows driver stack is supported.

Did you find this article helpful? Let us know what you thought and if you’d like to see more!

]]>http://helpblog.blackberry.com/2011/01/blackberry-bluetooth/feed/4boreev1BlackBerry Desktop ManagerBluetooth pairing with a BlackBerry smartphoneBluetooth pairing with a BlackBerry smartphoneBluetooth pairing with a BlackBerry smartphoneBluetooth pairing with a BlackBerry smartphoneBluetooth pairing with a BlackBerry smartphoneBluetooth pairing with a BlackBerry smartphoneBluetooth pairing with a BlackBerry smartphoneBluetooth pairing with a BlackBerry smartphoneBluetooth pairing with a BlackBerry smartphoneBluetooth pairing with a BlackBerry smartphoneBluetooth pairing with a BlackBerry smartphoneAre you getting the most out of your calendars?http://helpblog.blackberry.com/2010/09/blackberry-calendar-help/
http://helpblog.blackberry.com/2010/09/blackberry-calendar-help/#respondMon, 27 Sep 2010 19:43:18 +0000http://helpblog.blackberry.com/?p=611]]>

Ever notice that if you have more than one email account integrated with your BlackBerry® smartphone, you also have multiple calendars on your device? This is a great way to keep business and personal appointments separate and organized! There are a few things I like to do with my calendars to keep myself on track daily:

Setting up the Default calendar

For each email account added to the BlackBerry smartphone, there is a corresponding calendar created to help you organize your appointments. For example, you can have one for your work appointments and reminders, and another for your personal activities. However, you can set up a ‘default’ calendar as the one that is automatically viewed when you first click on the calendar application.

The first step is picking which account you want to use as your default:

1. Set the ‘default’ to an email address you have integrated. Navigate into Options/Advanced, then Options/Default Services. Once in this area, you can select the calendar you want to use as your ‘default’. (Note: When your BlackBerry smartphone is ‘Activated’ on a BlackBerry® Enterprise Server, this email account is automatically set as your default.)

2. When you create a new item in your calendar, you will see the Send using field at the top. This indicates the actual calendar the item will be created in. This can be changed at your discretion, but will revert to the default address you have set in step 1 each time you start a new item.

Keeping track of your appointments

Now that there are multiple calendars on your BlackBerry smartphone, how can you keep track of what’s where and where your older calendars are? Not to worry – there are a couple of things that can be done to make sure you’re seeing it all! If you are looking at your calendar and items seem to be missing, they may have been created in another calendar. Here is how you can view them all:

1. The first thing we want to do is make sure we can view all of our calendars at the same time, or at least know where to select a specific calendar. Open the Calendar application and press the Menu key, and there will be an option to Select Calendars. The first option is Show All Calendars.

2. Now we need to determine which event is in which calendar. This can be achieved by selecting a different color for each calendar. Open the Calendar, press the menu key and select Options. Now you’re looking at all of your calendars with any colors that may have been applied. If you now select a calendar, you can choose the color you want those appointments to display in.

Here is how I have mine set to display my work and my personal items:

Merging calendars

Now we’ve set the default calendar to the one we want and assigned a different color to each of our calendars – but what if we want to get all items into a single calendar? There are a couple of steps we can take to merge all calendars into the default calendar. This will allow users that are synchronizing, with BlackBerry Desktop Manager, to synchronize all appointments. If items have been created in various calendars and we want them all to be in the default (BlackBerry Desktop Manager only syncs with the calendar set as Default) there is a simple ‘MOVE’ command that we can use.

1. To ensure that all items are in the correct (default) calendar you can simply open the calendar application on the BlackBerry smartphone. Press the Menu key and select Options. You should now see the list of calendars that are on the device. Without pressing anything else, simply type the word MOVE. (You won’t see anything happen until the word is completed). Here is how it looks on my BlackBerry smartphone:

Note: If you use a BlackBerry® Storm™ or BlackBerry® Storm2™ smartphone, you will first need to bring up the keyboard on the screen. Open the calendar application on the device, then press the Menu key and select Options. You should now see the list of calendars that are on the device. Press the Menu key and select Show keyboard. In portrait mode, it will be multi-tap, so if you need the second letter on the key, press it twice.